Dell Inspiron 15R Special edition (7520)

I'm having the sane problem with the graphics drivers not uninstalling. Driver fusion hasn't helped. They appear in device manager the same as the top image. Every time I do a complete driver clean
Windows 8 reinstalls the wrong drivers again. These will then conflict with any new driver i install (leshcat,dell). Is there a better solution than a full windows format?

I've almost solved my problem with drivers reappearing after uninstalling. I deleted the files in c:/windows/system32/DriverStore/FileRepository. Original dell drivers not working with the amd card but the old drivers are fully gone. I'll keep trying before a format.

 

Please guys, I need help with this issue!

 

My fan speeds up after a while. Yours sounds normal. I use speedfan to manage it and now works very quietly unless i'm gaming.

 

I know I am responding to your post from August, but I just ordered this and plan on just replacing my 750gb 5400rpm hdd with an mSata -> Sata HD converter since I have a 256gb mSata SSD crucial. Then I will be moving my 750gb hdd into a optical caddy and turn my dvd player into an external.

 

I am inside my 30 day return window. I have windows 8 with all the dell BS on this computer. Just for testing reasons...could I wipe it and put Windows 7 on...will that void me for a return at all? I am curious if a fresh clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate would actually improve battery life on this.

Also, is there a 9-cell battery available for this laptop? The high gloss screen is kind of annoying..but I can live with it if the specs for this machine are pretty legit and good.

 

I am in the same boat..but as I responded to another poster, I bought an mSata -> Sata converter that is in the same size as a regular 2.5" hdd, so I am going to replace my 5400rpm hdd with this (256gb mSata SSD), and just remove my dvd drive and put the 5400 rpm hdd in place of it (in a caddy).

It sounds like that daughter board is extremely hard to come by now, and I would rather not take apart the entire computer to install it.

 

i have ordered from chiltern it parts in the uk - not that expensive, will post when it arrives.

 

Can anyone please help me? I've done a clean install of windows 8 (uefi). No matter which display drivers i choose the amd 7730m graphics card will display artefacts then crash. This is when i choose high performance mode in the 'configure switchable graphics'. Tried dell A00 from the disc and dell A03 from the website. Is there anything else i can try or do i have a hardware fault? Thanks

 

does anyone know how to pair a bluetooth device to this laptop? I had bluetooth headphones and a BT enabled phone, neither of which I can get to connect. Is there some trick to it?

I tried "finding" my BT headphones, but it said it couldn't install the drivers (there are no drivers that need to be installed). I tried connecting to my phone, and it never connected at all.

 

Did it work correctly before the clean install? You could maybe try to get back to Dell factory settings using the recovery partition and see if it still happens.
Otherwise, it seems hardware-related to me.

 

Did you enable wifi? the same chip gives wlan and bt connectivity

 

Thanks for replying. It was working before the clean install. I got it to work only with the disk dell drivers in the past A00. Was hoping to get better performance from the graphics. Think I might have deleted the recovery part in the process . I'm using Vlc player to test the amd card. It worked in high performance mode before. Now it crashes. Before WEI scored 6.0 for the graphics. Now that crashes too. Can i install the drivers first thing after a clean install? Or is there more to it?

UPDATE: Called Dell premium support and got my motherboard replaced. Everything works perfectly. WEI: 6.7 for graphics. Latest Intel drivers and AMD 13.2 beta7.

 

I know that a lot of users wanted to replace the 32gb msata drive with larger drive (say 128gb) and install the OS to the larger drive and boot from this drive. Which would then allow the 1Tb drive for storage.

However, after reading through this thread, the only user who has done this that I could see is gixer2000 but he has not actually provided details about doing this. Can anyone help on this and provide the following:

1. Figure out if there is a Dell compatible msata drive larger than the 32gb installed. Say 128gb would be ideal.
2. Manage to dismantle and replaced the 32gb msata drive with larger msata drive.
3. If there are any issues with this process?

If anyone could point me to the right place or link that shows how this can be done, which msata drive is recommended and any settings that I need to do to get it to work correctly? Thanks.

 

Literally just posted this

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...se-new-15-se-can-i-add-msata.html#post9112269

granted, I am using caddys because I didn't do the daughterboard mSata port approach, but read my thread.

 

I did it too...
I just used the dell manual for disassembly of the laptop and went forward!
It's relatively easy if you are patient jeje
Cheers
I have a 120gb mushking for the OS and the 1TB for data storage

 

My wifi is always enabled. Should I do something else?

 

Thanks for that. I was thinking I could do that as well, but thought my first preference is to replace the msata drive. Might revert back to this option though if it is too hard to dissemble to access the msata. Expect some q's from me if I go with what you have done. Thanks.

 

OK that is great to hear.

I think the hardware replacement is not going to be too bad. My only fear is if there are any software changes needed as I would not know what to do there. Can you advise if you followed any instructions that someone has posted or would be mind noting if there was any things you need to change in the BIOS or other software? I am cautious because I had to recently get by HDD replaced by Dell after a failed attempt to upgrade to Windows 8 which cause havoc and eventually lead to the laptop not being able to load windows at all. Also, is the mushking a compatible drive? Asking because Dell may void the warranty if not compatible. Thanks.

 

Nice price on a well loaded Inspiron 15R SE right now:

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Use coupon J9ZR64?V1WQ2S0 in the cart and the price drops to $699 for the following specs:

Full HD 1080p screen
Core i7-3632QM
8GB RAM
AMD 7730M GPU
750GB HD

Free shipping. I think this is the lowest I've seen pricing for such specs.

 

Mmm I think i didn't do anything BIOS wise... i just set it up to boot from the msata and used dell's dvd to install W7 from scratch
Boot time went down dramatically!
But i still haven't tried to set it to uefi instead of legacy type of boot.
Regarding the warranty, i don't think they would mind, BUT if you do have to send it, just disassemble it again and put the original one back in!

Cheers

 

Was wondering if anyone else has issues with rendering. When using the Firefox web browser, the menus doesn't always show all the options. As you hover your mouse over them, then the options appear. See attachment. You'll see a few options shown in the menu, with the rest blacked out. As you hover your mouse over the blacked out areas, then they appear. This appears isolated to using the performance setting under the Catalyst program because if you use the power saving feature then this issue doesn't appear.

I don't suspect that this is a motherboard/video hardware issue as I'm on a replacement motherboard and the issue appeared on both motherboards.

 

Not seen anything like that before, might be a Firefox issue? Try disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

Also if its not doing it whilst under performance mode its most likely due to the Intel graphics. You could try the Leshcat drivers mentioned a few pages ago.

 

Hello guys

After 3 months with no problems, it happens now that my 15r se has serious connection problems, low wifi signal...

I may be the router but it works fine with my phone. When I close my room's door the connection just stop working. And my phone shows many more networks at the same place.

I have tried to update the drivers but the problem keeps. It can be working and some minutes later it just doesnt see the network anymore until a couple of minutes later.

Right now I have these drivers:
-Driver version: 15.4.0.11
-Driver dates: 06/12/2012


Which one do you have? Have you experienced connection problems?

I already enabled the intel configuration settings as gixer2000 said

Thanks!

 

Hello guys

After 3 months with no problems, it happens now that my 15r se has serious connection problems, low wifi signal...

I may be the router but it works fine with my phone. When I close my room's door the connection just stop working. And my phone shows many more networks at the same place.

I have tried to update the drivers but the problem keeps. It can be working and some minutes later it just doesnt see the network anymore until a couple of minutes later.

Right now I have these drivers:
-Driver version: 15.4.0.11
-Driver dates: 06/12/2012


Which one do you have? Have you experienced connection problems?

I already enabled the intel configuration settings as gixer2000 said

Thanks!

 

I'm thinking about getting this laptop, can any of the users who have been using it for sometime let me know of any problems? any touchpad problems, wifi issues, over heating, freezes?. theres a coupon where i can get it for $699, i just want to be sure that its a decent laptop.

 

My wife bought for the same price last week and I had some concerns as well. The laptop arrives today so I'll be checking it out and giving some kind of amateur review after work.

 

I also ordered this laptop. It arrived at my home, so ill give a rough review when Im back from work.

 

1. Wifi works
2. Didn't stress test it, so you can get heat details from someone else
3. Touchpad is not great, but not really bad.

My biggest complaint was it came with windows 8 and had related driver issues out of the box. I don't know if she'll keep it, but I would at least recommend requesting an OS downgrade to 7.

 

Well, I convinced the wife to let me try and fix all the driver problems. Got all but one of them nailed down at present (Intel WiUSB: USB-IF xHCI USB Host Controller) and that one seems to be an unresolved issue on both microsoft and dell's ends (no permanent fixes from either camp, that i'm aware of). Oddly enough I haven't run into trouble due to this malfunctioning driver yet, though it's taking me ages to do all the appropriate diagnostics because ~windows 8~.

Update: Got the return sorted tonight. Turns out my wife hates windows 8 more than I do. :X

On the bright side, Dell's customer service by way of phone was relatively quick and polite. We had a return label in-hand with less than 30 mins on the phone, a few questions were asked, but we were not charged any fees.

 

just ordered a 15R SE from Days of Deals

3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM processor (6MB cache, up to 3.2Ghz)
15.6" Full High Definition (1080p) LED Display
Windows 8, 64-bit, English
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive)
Radeon™ HD 7730M 2GB

All for $ 779.99

 

Just did the same order.

 

The $699 deal last week was for an identical model save for a 750gig HDD instead of 1tb. :C

 

This one was from Dell Canada.

 

and my new 15R is marked as shipped already

 

Help me Please,
I have a 7520 which i bought in Jan,Its Motherboard failed and had to be replaced,now the indicator lights(power,charging etc.)on the laptop aren't working

 

Are anyone else's speakers really bad? If I turn the volume above 65-70 they are a complete mess, lots of breaking up on the lower end. Sounds like a fart and just blech. Updated all drivers, turned WaveMaxx on and off, turned the bass way down, etc... nothing helps. They are just really crappy at any decent volume.

Thoughts?

 

it is possible who ever changed the motherboard forgot to connect the cable for the top Bezel.

If this was done by dell, call them back and have them fix it.

 

just tested my new 15R sound is very good, no issues.

Are you still under warranty, if so call dell and have the speakers replaced.

 

Yes the laptop is less than a week old. I will do this, thanks very much for taking the time to test that.

 

Hi

I ordered the 15r that seems like a bunch of people few thread ago purchased in this thread.

Dell canceled my original order, and shipped me a pc different from the one I purchased. I have just noticed this and phoned dell about it, and they didnt really seem to care at all. Their response was if you are displeased with your purchase, please return it for a refund.

The new one they shipped me had an integrated graphics card, and inferior CPU to the one I had originally purchased.

Original - 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3632QM 2.2G, AMD Radeon HD 7730M 2GB

New - Intel HD Graphics (UMA), 3rd Gen Intel Core i7-3537U UMA TOUCH

Hopefully its just an error in the new order they produced after cancelling the first one?

 

well I would definitely return it for a replacement or refund and order the proper one

thanks a large error

 

So I've been playing around with my Dell for about a week now. So heres a small review of what I thought.

Case: The case is a mix of good and bad. The aluminum honey comb finish feels good and the texture is comfortable to touch. But the silver painted plastic that surrounds it isnt all that great, and makes it feel cheap.

Display: Probably the best part of the laptop. The screen is gorgeous and Anti Glare. Waching videos, movies, tv shows, and browsing the web is really enjoyable.

Keyboard: I would say average. Its nice being backlit, but they definetly could've included a number pad. But overall its comfortable to type on.

Touchpad: Very meh. I think it might be coming from a hp dv6, but the touchpad on that was perfect. This isnt a synaptics touchpad, so it had a different texture. Its more grainy than smooth for me , and it bothered me alot when i first got it, however now its getting better.

Battery Life: The battery life is below average. It lasts only 3 hours if yorue lucky and just browsing the web. If you even watch videos on youtube, youre gonna watch it go down to like 2 hours. And Dell looks like so far they dont offer any 9 cell battery. This is probably the biggest downside to the laptop.

Graphics: The graphics are midrange. You should not expect this to run modern games at 1080p. Expect to turn most modern games down to 720p, with medium-high settings. I tried assassins greed 2, and deus ex HR. Both games I had to turn down to 720p. I really wish Dell put the GT650m instead of the 7730 but oh well.

Overall: This laptop has its goods and bads. But I got it for 700 dollars, so I can not really complain too much.

Also random note the switchable lid on mines isnt flush with the cover on side. You cant really see it but it still annoys me that I can push down on it. That and I feel like somethings wrong with my headphone jack. THe noise comes out distorted sometimes, I am still not completely sure on that though. Does anyone else have these issues?


Edit: Also my laptop specs, i7, 8gb, 750tb , 7730m,1080p.

 

Also, is anyone else NOT happy with the screen? I feel like the matte is very thick and the screen just looks extremely washed out no matter what I adjust the brightness, contrast, and gamma to. Also, there is a lot of reflection off of the matte, more so than even a gloss screen. The screen is difficult to use except in the dark, and blacks are not dark at all. I preferred almost every single screen at the store to this laptop's, regardless of the resolution. (I bought online last week without using first).

 

I found the screen to be very good. Blacks look very dark, and colors seem very crisp. It has pretty good viewing angles too. It might just be my perspective, im coming from a low res 15 inch 720p screen. But this screen is beautiful to me

 

I'm coming from a 6 year old low res 19" screen and it's colors, blacks, and overall easiness on the eyes are much better than this one... ugh I'm wondering if I got a dud laptop, I will be contacting Dell to get a replacement I hope.

 

Probably, I have a cheapo 22" monitor that looks a heck of a lot worse than my 15 SE's screen. The IPS in my sig is comparable, especially sharing similar viewing angles.

 

As an update, I ran the Windows Display Calibration which was very helpful. It turned out I had to lower the Gamma by about 50%, and the blue level by about 25%! The display looks MUCH nicer now! The constant "fog" is gone...

However, this leaves me wondering why it would come from Dell like this? And if there is an underlying issue that caused it to be calibrated this way?

 

So after solving both of my issues with this laptop it turns out that... I love the darn thing! The keyboard is really nice, so is the tracking pad and buttons, and it runs very cool and quiet. Battery life seems to be the only minor concern, but I haven't tried anything to optimize it yet because it hasn't been an issue.

 

Yea, I love the computer thus far. I just installed 16gb of ram into it as well.

So now I have

- 256gb SSD
- 750GB storage (actually mine has been making a noise (a loud click) when playing music and on shut down, Dell is sending me a replacement just in case)
- 16gb ram
- external DVD burner now

I agree, it's very quiet. The battery life is horrible, but not much I can do..I have made some adjustments...but just gotta hope to not push it's limits if I am on the go and I have important stuff to do, or find a power outlet. The 9-cell battery for it doesn't exist. Someone tried it once, but said they couldn't even open the screen.

 

Since calibrating the screen like you mentioned I love it, granted its still low res for me (720p) but its still excellent quality.

As part of the Dell software you can increase the battery life, disables Windows Aero and downclocks it, but makes a huge difference - I've got about 5 hours out of it easily before.